The Lee volleyball team rallied from two sets down to score a thrilling five-set victory over Union to open up Gulf South Conference play on Friday evening inside Walker Arena.

The Lady Flames fell behind early but fired back to take set three in a back-and-forth affair, 26-24. Lee would force a tiebreaking set with a 25-18 win in set four before posting yet another comeback in the fifth set. The Lady Flames dropped the first six points before stunning the Bulldogs by storming all the way back to finally put away their fourth match point, 19-17 to end the thrilling conference battle.

"We talk as a team about fifth set mentality, and I thought we showed a lot of toughness to battle back after getting down early," said Lee head coach Callie Murphy. "This team fights and battles and we didn't get discouraged down 2-0 and we didn't lose faith even when we went down in the fifth. I very proud of their effort tonight."

Allie Whittinghill led the way with 25 kills. Emma Flowers added 18 slams and 12 digs. Calina Croy provided a spark off the bench as she was subbed in during the third set and went on to post 33 assists, 15 digs and three kills.

"Cal (Calina Croy) did a great job for us tonight and really gave us a lift," added Murphy. "She's had a great week of practice and did a great job of finding Emma and Allie and positioning our middles so that we could get better matchups on the outside and not face as many double blocks from Union."

The Lady Flames stepped up at the net with 18 blocks as Whittinghill, Petty and Cook each had four.

Union had four players post double-figure kills in the match led by 20 from Alyssa Tatsch. Laura Rose Gray posted 12 and Greta Blakemore and Reese Owens pitched in 10 each. Sydney Sample registered a match-high 45 digs while Emily Grace Calhoon had eight kills and four blocks.

The Lady Flames improve to 3-5 on the year and 1-0 in the GSC. Union falls to 8-5 and 1-1 in league play. Lee will get right back to work on Saturday as they host Christian Brothers at 2 p.m.